Clearlake council wants a ?local preference' bidding ordinance

CLEARLAKE -- There are rules in city government -- codes, ordinances, laws.

Sometimes they're connected to federal and state laws.

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of them all.

The Clearlake City Council learned about a few of them at its meeting Thursday night at City Hall, then agreed that an old one needs to be changed and a new one needs to be introduced.

Council members, after voicing their preference to award contracts to local bidders, voted 5-0 to give their business to a Redding company.

Robert J. Frank Construction will be paid $132,915 for its work on the Safe Routes to School project on Austin and Arrowhead roads.

"My policy is ?Go local,'" Jeri Spittler, the mayor, said.

"If there's a way to give the (contract) to a local company, we should consider that,"

councilman Joey Luiz said, echoing council-wide sympathies.

There isn't a way this time, city manager Joan Phillipe explained.

"It's a public works project, so the process is defined by state law," Phillipe advised the council. "In cases like this, the low bidder gets the job."

Discussion then shifted to a County of Lake "local preference" ordinance that gives supervisors some flexibility in awarding bids to local companies that are within approximately 10 percent of the low bid from an out-of-county company.

Though there's a general city policy to "go local" whenever possible, Phillipe said it would take an ordinance to allow council to have that same flexibility.

So the council agreed to pursue a new ordinance that would do just that.

Phillipe said it's a process that would take 60 to 90 days.

Another business item Thursday pertained to a city ordinance that hasn't been followed in recent years, which states that council members will not be compensated for "partial months of service."

Each election cycle, however, during the December that follows the November election, there is usually one council meeting -- and both outgoing and incoming members routinely attend.

In recent years, both have been paid their full monthly salaries of $300.

When the city's interim financial director, Jack Dilles, brought it to Phillipe's attention, she decided it was another one of those items "that needed to be cleaned up."

The council agreed that both incoming and outgoing members should attend the meeting, to either finish old business or get a start on new business, and that both should be paid.

So the ordinance will be changed to make it legal.

In other business, the council approved a fee schedule for taxis and other vehicles for hire that includes $125 for an operator's permit, $75 for a driver's permit and $25 for a vehicle permit.

The council also sufficiently liked Spittler's proposal to join with the Chamber of Commerce and host a "trunk and treat" event on Halloween to form a committee to explore the possibilities.

Preliminary plans call for closing part of Lakeshore Boulevard for residents to park their cars, open their trunks and distribute candy.

Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.